Toastmasters Online
Toastmasters are increasingly finding the value of establishing themselves in the Virtual world of the Internet. Clubs and Members find benefits through * Communicating their existence to people who locate products and services via search engines * Providing information for their members, without managing myriads of emails and attachments * Sharing news amongst other Toastmasters Clubs * Sharing Knowledge and Experience * Connecting remotely to meetings that happen physically or online. Online Clubs With the advances in meeting video software, Toastmasters International approved the charter of Online Clubs in March 2016. All charted online clubs can now be found on the TI website via Online Clubs (via the Toastmasters International Find-A-Club website) * Online Presenters (Advanced club with focus on webinars and online training delivery) * Emperor Online * Firebirds Collective * Great White North Online Toastmasters * Toastmasters Toastmasters Without Borders * Witty Storytellers Online * ABLAZE Ablaze Advanced Online Toastmaster = Club Web Sites = Many clubs have developed their own Club home pages: *within the Wiki community Club web pages *on the freetoasthost.org Toastmasters hosted web site service (donation requested) *on the easy-speak.org free club mangement service *or standalone web sites or other presence using the club's own resources Some of the Best Club Websites http://www.extremetoastmasters.com or http://www.etgym.com http://telstra.freetoasthost.net http://www.turbine.wellington.net.nz - Winner of Club Website of the Year 2006 AND 2007, District 72. http://www.gttoastmasters.org - Multi-times Winner of Best Club Website, in District 12. Some of the Best Division and District Websites http://www.toastmasters.org.nz/ was in the running for NetGuide's Best Lifestyle Site in 2004. = Blogs = Blogs are growing as the complexity of structuring information gives way to simply maintaining a chronological record that can be searched. They are increasingly becoming used for collating topical thoughts, or online diaries. Toastmasters, too, have found them of increasing use. Some currently active blogs http://speaking-life.blogspot.com http://chicagotoastmasters.blogspot.com http://web.archive.org/20051105032024/ah-um-er.blogspot.com/ http://taipeitm.blogspot.com/ Passionate Toastmasters! http://osutm.blogspot.com Oregon State Toastmasters http://toastytalking.blogspot.com http://d5toastmasters.blogspot.com/ http://toastmasterswa.net http://mytoastmastersblog.com http://www.igroops.com/igroops/publicspeaking/blog/VIEW+00000012 http://www.humorpower.com/blog http://blog.ericfeng.com http://areaa4.blogspot.com/ http://corporatetalker.wordpress.com http://speaking-life.blogspot.com/ http://journals.aol.com/rdms87/SpeakingOf This selection includes blogs with recent activity, and strong Toastmasters-related content of wide appeal. Search for others Blogs hosted by Blogspot can be searched here. = Knowledge Bases = This wiki is a prime example of a knowledge base that Toastmasters around the world contribute to, to increase the gathering of the Intellectual Capital developed by their global membership. Some currently active Knowledge Bases District 71 hosts a really good Knowledge Base at http://d71.org/kb.php. Each club using the Freetoasthost service usually has a Knowledge Base included in their Bulletin Boards, however the quality of these is variable, and generally local in usage. District 53 is starting to build a wiki / knowledge base to capture everything that goes into organizing and running a successful district Toastmasters conference. Check it out here: http://d53conferences.wetpaint.com/ (Right now, you need permission to edit the pages... but that may change.) = Online Communities = Online or Virtual Communities have proliferated through the decades following 1990 and 2000. Their potential to bring people into a society sharing a common interest has not been lost on Toastmasters. Toastmasters are now participating in such communities as both clubs and individuals, effectively increasing the potential of interaction and sharing in virtual networks that traverse the Toastmasters organisation in ways previously unimagined. Initially, Toastmasters clubs started to collect around webrings, linking like-minded web sites together without the need to specifically cross-link web sites. Now Toastmasters and Clubs are appearing on Myspace. Few are yet participating in the Virtual Worlds such as Second Life. Some currently active communities Search for more toastmasters through Online Communities Entries at MySpace Entries at ... = Online Resources = With so many places for "connection" between Toastmasters around the world, it is easy to forget the collections of Online Resources that members use for inspiration.